French-fry-related fine must be reversed, B.C. tribunal rules [Video]

B.C. condo owners were fined $200 for breaching a bylaw because their tenant dropped a single French fry in the elevator lobby, according to a decision from the province’s Civil Resolution Tribunal.

The owners of the condo were challenging the French-fry-related fine, as well as another one for the same amount, on the grounds that evidence of the bylaw breaches was obtained from CCTV video – violating provincial privacy legislation.

The dispute between BCFS Residential Rentals Ltd., a company that owns and rents out two units in the building, and the council, which imposed the fines, dates back to 2022 and was settled last week. In B.C., the common assets of a condo building are owned by a strata corporation and managed by a strata council.

BCFS was asking the tribunal to find the fines were invalid and to order the strata to “stop using CCTV recordings to monitor residents and enforce its …